Buying a travel water purifier is a good idea for any time that you are away from home. The information provided here will help you choose an effective one that will fit your needs, without wasting money on unnecessary features. You just need to answer one simple question.
Where are you going?
If you are travelling to another country, a portable pen-type UV light purifier is the easiest and most affordable alternative. Purification in other countries is necessary, regardless of where you currently live, due to the problem of developed immunities.
There are germs of various kinds in all freshwater supplies. But when you consistently consume those germs, you become immune to them. They will not make you sick.
When you travel to a distant location, the germs are different. While they may not make the local residents ill, they can easily make you sick. Common symptoms include diarrhea; it is often referred to as traveler's diarrhea and it can ruin a vacation.
If you are going for a hike in the wilderness, the sterilization pen may be somewhat effective, but there are canteens that are better suited for the purpose. Giardia is the parasite that makes hikers ill more often than anything else.
A travel water purifier is unnecessary for hiking, if you always boil before drinking or using it for mixing dehydrated foods. But, even washing a fresh piece of fruit in a rushing waterfall could expose the hiker to giardia.
Some of the better canteens include sub-micron particle filters, which will get rid of any sand or sediment and the tiny giardia cysts. Most of us have simpler needs.
The purifiers in our homes insure that we are not exposed to chlorine, lead or other chemical contaminants, but when we go out to work or play for the day, there are only so many bottles that we can take with us.
We therefore need a travel water purifier that removes chlorine, lead and other chemicals. We know that buying bottled brands is bad for the environment and that the quality is highly questionable. But, we also know that many of the chemicals in tap-water are known to be cancer-causing agents and that tiny traces of lead can build up in our bodily organs. And these cause long-term, serious health problems.
Now, most of the portable purifiers contain only a carbon filter, which improves the taste and smell but will not remove the lead. If you want the best travel water purifier, as I'm sure that you do, you want to be sure that it addresses the issue of lead.
The risk may be small in some areas, but in practically any city, there is some lead content due to aging pipelines. The risk is significant in DC, Detroit and dozens of other cities around the US.
A plastic sports-bottle is the most convenient form of travel water purifier. It is lightweight, practically unbreakable and can be fitted with an effective filter. The money saved over buying bottled is just one of the things that makes it worthwhile.
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